‘Pokemon Go’ Legendary creatures like Mewtwo show up in game’s code

Since the release of Pokémon Go last July, players have been
clamoring to catch so-called Legendary Pokémon like
Mewtwo.

Legendaries are extremely rare and powerful Pokémon
from the original game series. And until now, they’ve been
completely absent from Pokémon Go, even as the game has
added more creatures from
the second generation of Pokémon.

But evidence that Legendaries are finally coming has
been uncovered in the code behind Pokémon Go, according to
an analysis of the app’s most recent update
by The Silph Road on Tuesday.

Based on the analysis, Legendaries will be encountered
through the game’s
recently announced Raid Battle feature, which lets players
team up to take down a powerful Pokémon occupying a gym for
a limited time.

That scenario lines up perfectly with the original trailer
for Pokémon Go, in which players gathered in New York
City’s Times Square to take down Mewtwo together.

A
concept illustration of Legendary birds Ho-Oh and Lugia in
Pokémon Go.Medium

The Silph Road believes that Legendaries won’t be able to
defend gyms (likely because of how powerful they will be in
relation to normal Pokémon), but the site says that
Legendaries should be able to attack gyms alongside
normal Pokémon.

It’s still unclear exactly when Pokémon Go creator
Niantic Labs plans to deploy Legendaries, but references
showing up in the game’s code indicates that the release is
unlikely to be far off. Niantic could choose to release
Legendaries at its
first major Pokémon Go event in Chicago next month,
which is expected to draw around 20,000 players.